The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

The Martyrdom of Niketas the Goth (BHG 1339), 8

8. Ἑτέρῳ δὲ λοιπὸν οὐδενὶ γέγονεν εὐχέρεια τοῦ τιμίου μεταλαβεῖν λειψάνου. Ὁ γὰρ εἰρημένος τῆς ὁσίας μνήμης Αὐξέντιος ἐπίσκοπος ὢν τῆς Μώψου ἐν ἐπιθυμίᾳ γενόμενος γοῦν τίμιον ἀνεγεῖραι ναὸν τῶν ἁγίων καὶ μεγάλων μαρτύρων Ταράχου, Πρόβου καὶ Ἀνδρονίκου, καί τοῦτον περιχαράξας πρὸ των τειχῶν τῆσδε τῆς Μωψουπόλεως, γέγονεν ἐν τῇ Ἀναζαρβαίων μητροπόλει, ἐν ᾗ καὶ αὐτοὶ οἱ ἅγιοι μάρτυρες ἐτελειώθησαν καί κατετέθησαν καὶ λείψανα τῶν ἁγίων μαρτύρων ᾔτησέν τε καὶ ἔλαβεν, εἰ καὶ μετ’ αὑτῶν ἡ ἔνδοξος γέγονεν τούτων κατάθεσις· ἀντίδωρον δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς παρέχειν ὑποσχώμενος ἅγιον λείψανον τοῦ ἁγίου Νικήτα πᾶσαν ἔθετο σπουδήν πληρώσαι τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν. Καὶ ἤδη τὰ πρὸς τὴν χρείαν ἐργαλεῖα καὶ τεχνίτας λαβὼν πονήσας τε πολλὰ σὺν τοῖς παραγενομένοις ἐκ τῆς μητροπόλεως ἐπὶ τοῦτο κληρικοῖς, τὸ μὲν ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον ἐπικείμενον τῇ ἁγίᾳ θέσει μάρμαρον ἀνέστησεν καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πάντες ἐθεάσαντο σῶμα, οὕτως ὄν, ὡς ἀνωτέρω ἡ διήγησις ἐδήλωσεν, ἐπᾶραι δὲ αὐτοῦ παντελῶς οὐδεὶς ἠδυνήθη. εἷς γὰρ τῶν συνελθόντων τεχνιτῶν προπετευσάμνεος καὶ ἁψάμενος αὐτοῦ καὶ προσδοκήσας ἀφελέσθαι ἐξ αὐτοῦ μερίδα, ἔμεινεν ἔχων αὐτὴν τὴν ἁψαμένην χεῖραν ξηράν· σεισμός τε ἐπιγενόμενος πολὺς καὶ ἀστραπαὶ φοβερῶς διατρέχουσαι καὶ βροντῶν ἦχος διεκώλυσεν μεταλαβεῖν τινα τοῦ ἁγίου λειψάνου. Αὐξέντιος δὲ ὁ ὁσιώτατος φόβῳ συνεχόμενος ἐκτενῶς τε προσευξάμενος αὐτὴν τὴν ξηρανθεῖσαν χεῖραν τῷ ἁγίῳ λειψάνῳ πιστῶς προσήγαγεν καὶ ἀπέλαβεν αὐτὴν ὑγιῆ· διὸ μετὰ φόβου καὶ τρόμου σπουδάσαντες σκεπάσαι τὸ ἅγιον λείψανον καὶ τὸ μάρμαρον ἐπιθεῖναι, διέρρηξαν τοῦτο κατά τινα μέρη, γνώρισμα φέρον μέχρι καὶ νῦν τῶν τότε συμβεβηκότων διὰ τὴν ταῦτα τῶν πιστευόντων ἡμῶν πληροφορίαν καὶ κατάνυξιν.

'And nobody else has had the possibility of acquiring something from the precious body ever since. For the said Auxentios, of blessed memory, when he was bishop of the city of Mopsos (=Mopsuestia), desired to build a noble shrine of the holy and great martyrs Tarachos, Probos, and Andronikos. And he demarcated its site before the walls of this city of Mopsos, and visited the metropolis of the Anazarbians (=Anazarbos) where these holy martyrs were consummated and deposited, and he requested and received relics of the holy martyrs, and it was with these (relics) that their glorious deposition (katathesis) was made. Now he promised to provide a holy relic of Saint Niketas as a return gift, and took every care to fulfill his promise. So he soon gathered the necessary tools and workers and made a great effort, and, in the company of the clerics who had come from the metropolis for the purpose, he lifted the marble which lay over the holy burial on the altar, and everyone saw the holy body being just like our account has described it above. Yet absolutely no one was able to set hand on it, because one of the workmen gathered there made haste and touched it, intending to remove a piece from it, but he was left with the hand that had touched it paralyzed. And there being a great tremor, and lightning flashing terribly, and the sound of thunder, it prevented anyone from touching the holy body. Now the most holy Auxentios, overtaken by fear, prayed for a long time and brought with faith the paralyzed hand (of the worker) towards the holy body, and he took it back healed. And so, as they hastened, with fear and trembling, to cover the holy body and to place the marble back onto it, they broke it (the marble) in some parts, and until the present day it bears witness to the things that happened back then, so that we who believe in them may be assured and uplifted.'


Text: Delehaye 1912, 214-215.
Translation: E. Rizos, P. Nowakowski.

Ceremony of dedication

Saint’s feast
Anniversary of church/altar dedication
Anniversary of relic invention/translation

Burial site of a saint - unspecified
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Burial site of a saint - sarcophagus/coffin
Descriptions of cult places
Cult building - independent (church)
Altar

Construction of cult buildings

Miracle after death
Punishing miracle
Healing diseases and disabilities
Miraculous sound, smell, light
Miraculous behaviour of relics/images
Bodily incorruptibility
Saint aiding or preventing the translation of relics

Bodily relic - entire body
Unspecified relic
Division of relics
Transfer, translation and deposition of relics
Construction of cult building to contain relics

Ecclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Merchants and artisans

Source

Discussion

Bibliography